Daniel Cormier urges Jon Jones to 'take all that thunder' and fight Alex Pereira after Stipe Miocic
Daniel Cormier would like to see Jon Jones take on Alex Pereira if he gets past Stipe Miocic.
Heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) is expecting his first title defense vs. Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) to take place at UFC 309 Nov. 9 in New York.
This past Saturday in the UFC 303 headliner, light heavyweight champion Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) notched his second title defense when he knocked out Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in their rematch.
Jones admitted to a fan when answering their question on “X,” that he’s unsure about retirement and that “options are looking crazy right now.” With Pereira previously teasing a move to heavyweight, Cormier sees a fight with Jones as the best possible move.
“I’ll tell you one thing Jones said: Now he might stick around because he goes, ‘The options are looking great,'” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren.
“If I’m Jones, I fight Stipe, I beat Stipe, and then I call out the UFC to make Pereira go up (to heavyweight), knowing that you could take all that thunder because Jones vs. Pereira would be a massive payday.”
Ben Askren thinks Jones vs. Pereira would look similar to Jones’ quick submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, and Cormier agrees.
“Jones is a -800 favorite to fight Pereira and beat Pereira, if they were to fight,” Cormier said. “So it’s not a great matchup, but I love Alex, man. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.